http 1.1 Service Unavailable Errors

SUMMARY: Are you unable to access secure websites in Internet Explorer 6? Spyware may be the culprit.

Some people have been reporting getting http://1.1 Service Unavailable errors when trying to browse certain sites, such as amazon.com, ebay.com, cnn.com, etc. If this is happening to you, try the following:

1. First, clean spyware or adware on your machine that may be preventing you from visiting such sites. Try at least Ad-aware and SpyBot. If you do not clean the spyware and adware first, performing the second step may be moot as the malicious software may revert any changes you make later to system files.

2. Check your HOSTS file as some spyware or adware may have added illegitimate entries. This may be redirecting your access to legitimate websites. This file can be cleaned, but it must be done very carefully. If you are on a computer network, ask your network administrator for help, as removing the wrong entry can deny you access to some resources.

To find your Hosts file, named "HOSTS":

Windows XP:

* Access folder C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC in Explorer.

Windows 2000:

* Access folder C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC in Explorer.

Windows 95/98/ME:

* Access folder C:\WINDOWS in Explorer.

Open the file "HOSTS" in Notepad. Before making changes, do a "Save As" and save a backup of this file as "HOSTS.BAK". Then reopen the HOSTS file.

Now, see if you find an entry in the following format:

???.???.???.??? SITE

* ???.???.???.??? is some set of four numbers* SITE is the offending website

Here is an example entry in your HOSTS file that may be listed if you cannot access Amazon.com:

127.0.0.1 amazon.com

Delete the entry for the offending website, then save the file.

Note that if you use anti-spyware software you may have many entries for sites that the anti-spyware software thinks are malicious. These may be pointed to 127.0.0.1. DO NOT remove those entries as they help protect you from accidentally visiting malicious sites!

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